Adventurous End To Amelia

We left Amelia Island on Saturday night and headed back to the hotel by the Jacksonville airport. However, we found Saturday to be the most enjoyable day of our vacation. We rented a boat with two tour guides on Saturday to take us on the Amelia River. We were told that we would be able to see all kinds of natural wildlife.

The boat tour was only a couple hours, but we traveled quite a distance. We got into some open water and because it was a little speed boat, Captain Ron really took off. I loooooove boating, especially on open water like that.

We were able to enter some areas that would normally be above water and very marshy, but because of the tide, we had no problems. In these areas, we sighted a really large pod of dolphins. There were 15 or so of them and we followed them from a distance, but they swam right past the boat and we were able to get an up close and personal view. At one point, we were even able to see them flipping up out of the water.


We stayed with the dolphins for quite a while and then headed out to Cumberland Island. This island is on the other side of the Cumberland Sound...across from the beach we visited. However, this island is only accessible by boat and is inhabited by wild horses. We were able to drive the boat up to the edge of a salt marsh where these horses were feeding. No one cares for them; they are truly wild and look so healthy and beautiful.


As we were leaving the island, Captain Ron pulled up the boat on the beach, jumped off and took off running down the beach. Mom and I had been talking about finding the "perfect" shell, and because nobody visits this beach to pick shells, the sand was covered in them. He brought us a back a couple, and my favorite souvenir....a sea turtle rib bone. He said it was very rare and was a hefty fine if someone saw it on his boat. I brought it home in my purse and thought for sure that I would be stopped by airport security, but nobody even noticed.

We headed over to a different island, Tiger Island, which is also only accessible by boat. However, this island has homes...even one where JKF Jr. spent his honeymoon. As we were motoring past, we saw several more wild horses...even a couple who were sparring.

We began to head back because the weather was turning nasty...rain clouds were rolling in. On our way back, we motored past one last island in hopes of seeing an alligator, but no such luck. We sped back across the open water, which was now quite choppy and headed back to the marina. We both loved the tour and found it to be an excellent ending point for our vacation on Amelia.